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Drivers who use Roberts Road on the West Side will have to find a new way to cross I-270
starting next spring when state crews begin to rework the interchange.

The good news: The project will last six months instead of a year, transportation officials
announced yesterday, which will save taxpayers $1 million.

The entire project is projected to cost $8.7 million.Ohio Department of Transportation officials
said they can cut the time in half by closing the twin bridges at Roberts Road for six months,
rather than reducing lanes during the reconstruction.

“We could do this project in half the time, six months, and have less impact to traffic and get
it completed,” said ODOT District 6 spokeswoman Nancy Burton.

The ramps to I-270 from Roberts Road, however, will stay open. Drivers who want to cross I-270
can use detours at the I-270 and Cemetery Road interchange, at Westbelt Drive and Trabue and Wilson
roads.Burton said there was business, city and county support to shorten the duration of the
project.

“We looked at it and asked, ‘Would you rather be impacted for a year-plus, or rather be impacted
for just six months?’ ” she said. “Clearly, being impacted for a shorter period of time is more
favorable.”

Traffic officials generally get more complaints when there’s a complete closure, said Greg
Payne, an assistant administrator at the Franklin County engineer’s office.

But sometimes, when cost, safety and other issues are evaluated, it’s the best and most
efficient way to complete a project.

“There is a cost savings to the public if you’re able to (completely) close the road. Then you’r
e able to get your project done a lot quicker,” he said. “But then you have the consternation of
the motoring public.”

Burton said closing a road completely is similar to what ODOT did in Morrow County at the
I-71/Rt. 61 interchange. Rather than close one ramp at a time, for 15 days each, they closed all
four ramps at once for 20 days. That cut 40 days off the project.

“It would be a lot of confusion for up to two months of us telling people, it’s this ramp, not
this ramp,” she said.There are about 100 crashes a year at the Roberts Road interchange, according
to the state.

The new design — called a diverging diamond — will switch traffic to the opposite sides of the
road as it passes over the freeway and create free-flow turns onto the ramps.The state says that
will curb crashes.An average of 27,000 drivers use Roberts Road daily.